Citing Presidential Palace, Afghan media reports say President Ashraf Ghani met with Afghan Republic negotiators on Sunday evening and assured them of the government’s full support.
The negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is leaving for Doha today to begin the next round of the negotiations on January 5.
According to TOLONews, the first round of the talks continued for three months, with the Republic and Taliban negotiators agreeing on procedural rules for the talks and sharing verbally their demands for agenda points with each other.
Peace negotiators representing the Afghan republic said that the next round of talks will mainly focus on ending the violence and the structure of a future government.
During the meeting with President Ghani, the head of the government negotiating team Masoom Stanekzai reportedly briefed him on their meetings with different layers of society and said they heard views of the National Assembly representatives, representatives of women, youth and civil society on peace so that they can better represent them in the second round of the negotiations.
President Ghani said the government and the people of Afghanistan are supporting the negotiators and expect them to continue the talks in light of the Constitution and the people’s views.
The negotiators said that people’s views and experiences will be a good guideline for them in the next round of talks.
The negotiating team held three meetings with the leadership committee of the High Council for National Reconciliation during their 23-day break that was aimed at further discussions around the next steps in the process.
The peace negotiations are expected to resume as violence remains high in the country, raising concerns about the future of the process.
